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Title: Imbolc & Candlemas
Description: One of my most favorite days


Judith Gap - February 2, 2006 08:42 PM (GMT)
The information in this post is taken from two sources.



Imbolc is traditionally a time of purification — clean your house! If you have any Christmas greenery lingering, burn it now.
Make your own Brighid’s crosses and hang them up, especially in the kitchen where her influence can bless your food.

Put out food — cake, buttered bread and milk will do — outside your door: Brighid and her cow walk through the neighborhood tonight, and will appreciate your offering.

Leave a silk ribbon on your doorstep for Brighid to bless: It can then be used for healing purposes.

Meditate upon what you would like to see grow in health and strength this year: for yourself, your family, your community, the Earth, and ask for Bride's blessing upon your prayers. (Akasha)



Imbolc is a festival of waxing light and purification, heralding the potential of spring. It is associated with the Celtic goddess Brid (pronounced 'breed') (also called Bride, Bridhe, Brigid or Bridget). In terms of the Goddess cycle, Imbolc is the point at which the old, winter aspect of the Goddess, the Crone, is transformed into the Maiden (the Virgin Goddess, Brid).

In its Christian form, Imbolc is the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, in which candles are lit at midnight as a symbol of purification (hence the common name for this day, Candlemas). It celebrates the presentation of the infant Jesus at the temple and the purification of the Virgin Mary. Jewish law dictated that the mother of a male child had to be purified by ritual 40 days after the birth. The Christian Church also appropriated the day more directly, by designating the Goddess Brid as Saint Bridget of Kildare, and recasting her festival day as Saint Bridget's Day. Just as Brid was the Goddess of poetry, healing (particularly midwifery) and smithcraft, so Saint Bridget became the patron saint of these areas.

Imbolc traditions center around light and purification. Candles may be lit in each room of a house to honor the returning sun, or in each window from sundown on Candlemas Eve (February 1st) until dawn. This is an appropriate time to cleanse or bless your house, to seek inspiration, and to purify yourself of limiting thoughts and negative attitudes. Dairy foods are particular appropriate to eat on this festival of calving and lambing.

Imbolc may mean 'in the belly', a reference to the seeds of life ready to stir again in the cold earth, and to the purification of the Maiden so that she may conceive the divine child at the following festival, Ostara. (Byzant Scriptorium)

TinyVillages - February 2, 2006 11:18 PM (GMT)
QUOTE (Judith Gap @ Feb 2 2006, 03:42 PM)
Imbolc is traditionally a time of purification — clean your house! If you have any Christmas greenery lingering, burn it now.

Note: remove greenery from walls and take it outside first. Trust me.

king_girl - February 3, 2006 12:12 AM (GMT)
I love this idea. It will take more planning than I can put in today, but it would make for a fun family night.

NoFunNinjas - February 3, 2006 01:08 AM (GMT)
QUOTE (TinyVillages @ Feb 2 2006, 04:18 PM)
QUOTE (Judith Gap @ Feb 2 2006, 03:42 PM)
Imbolc is traditionally a time of purification — clean your house! If you have any Christmas greenery lingering, burn it now.

Note: remove greenery from walls and take it outside first. Trust me.

well thats no fun TV :D




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